It was another beautiful morning in paradise, similar to yesterday, but with a lot less wind.
The first big surprise was finding a great horned owl back at the north end. We haven’t seen the likes of them since they had a run-in with a Cooper’s hawk back in August. “Welcome back, Gorgeous!”
While the owl was overhead, this migrating northern waterthrush was across the water foraging on the shore of the southern island.
At the north end, I caught a glimpse of this stunning golden-winged warbler. Can you imagine how it would have looked if my lens had focused on the bird instead of on the leaves in the foreground. Sadly, the bird did not give me a second chance.
Thankfully, this little cutie, a young and/or female magnolia warbler, I believe, came out a little clearer.
Another face we haven’t seen since August is that of this osprey, who perched statuesquely over the northern island.
If you ever wondered what an indigo bunting looks like as its blue feathers come in, here you go. This might be the youngster we saw just after labor day.
The great blue heron was back on the pond, but there were already enough photographers there, so I tried the river again, and this eastern phoebe was my reward. The most recent phoebe picture I can find is from April. “Watch out for that fishing line, Cutie!”
I could not find the spotted sandpiper on the lily pads today, so when I heard one down on the river from atop the bluff, I hustled down to find one on a rock in the middle of the river.
In the trees along the west edge of the soccer fields, I finally managed a photo, suitable for identification only, of a ruby-crowned kinglet, whom we also haven’t seen since the spring.
In the weeds beside the soccer fields, I was able to find a dragonfly that is not a green darner. Instead, this is a wandering glider, which we only saw for the first time this summer.
Finally, asters are starting to blossom throughout the park, and these stunning New England asters are growing right beside the southern parking lot and attracting quite a crowd of hungry pollinators.
Lastly, as I was trying to line up the asters, this faded beauty landed on a leaf right behind them. As far as I can tell, this is our very first pearl crescent (Phyciodes tharos), and close cousin of the northern crescent that we have seen a few times. There’s plenty of variation between the sexes and the individuals of a species, but the only images I can find online of crescents that have those dots along the hind edge of the hind wings fully boxed in, as this one does, is of pearl crescents, and here’s hoping that the experts agree with me.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 